Manchester City face prospect of Barcelona or Real Madrid in Champions League group after early knockout

Manchester City could face another Champions League ‘group of death’ next
season, despite booking their place in the 2012-13 competition as Premier
League title winners.

Tough draw: Manchester City may have won the Premier League for the first time in 44 years, but they face the prospect of the likes of Real Madrid or Barcelona in their Champions League groupPhoto: GETTY IMAGES

Roberto Mancini’s team are set to miss out on a place among the top seeds in next season’s Champions League after their group stage elimination in this season’s tournament denied them the chance to boost their Uefa ranking sufficiently.

City, who were paired with eventual runners-up Bayern Munich, Napoli and Villarreal in their debut campaign in the Champions League, finished third in their group despite finishing the six-game stage with 10 points.

And with Uefa finalising their 2011-12 co-efficient table earlier this week following Chelsea’s victory over Bayern in last Saturday’s Final at the Allianz Arena, City will find themselves in Pot Two in August’s group stage draw - with Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal all positioned as top seeds in Pot One.

As a result, City could land a nightmare group with top seeds Barcelona or Real Madrid, Pot Three heavyweights Juventus and German champions Borussia Dortmund, whose ranking in 66th place in the co-efficient table sees them facing a position in Pot Four.

Uefa’s ranking system is based on a club’s performance in each of the last five seasons, from 2007-08 to 2011-12 inclusively, leaving national champions such as City, Juventus and Dortmund suffering from their absence from European competition during that period.

Barcelona, twice crowned European champions during that period, are Uefa’s highest-ranked club, with United -- winners in 2007-08 -- ranked second, ahead of third-placed Chelsea.

Arsenal are also guaranteed a place as top seeds due to their ranking in sixth-place, behind Bayern and Real respectively.

Despite City’s inability to break into Pot One, however, the club has climbed from last season’s third tier ranking to lie 28th in Uefa’s co-efficient table.

And although they could land another hazardous group next season, a more positive scenario could see Mancini’s players paired with top seeds Porto, who they eliminated from this season’s Europa League, and teams from the qualifying rounds, which involve Celtic, Motherwell and minnows from other lowly-ranked European leagues.